


Midnight

by albusev



Series: Asuna and Kazuto one-shot collection [1]
Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Healing, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:00:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24150955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/albusev/pseuds/albusev
Summary: A midnight conversation between Asuna and Kazuto after she wakes up from a nightmare while in the hospital after being freed from ALfheim Online
Relationships: Kirigaya Kazuto | Kirito/Yuuki Asuna | Asuna
Series: Asuna and Kazuto one-shot collection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742830
Kudos: 39





	Midnight

"GAAAAHHHH!"

Asuna jolted awake from a nightmare of the events from the day before. 

She started shaking as her body was chilled by the layer of sweet that coated her in her sleep. Asuna looked around, attempting to remember where she was. Sitting up in her bed, she recalled that she was in the hospital and had just woken up from her Nerve-Gear induced coma. In the early evening, her eyes had fluttered open as she was finally released from her prison Sugou had locked her in for months after her love Kirito beat SAO and freed everyone. 

' _Oh Kirito! I knew you would save me_ ' she thought as she remembered her first waking moments. Her mood quickly changed as she recalled the reason she awoke moments before. She had been back in her cell, reliving every horrible thing Sugou had done to her, plus what she knew he would have done if Kirito hadn't defeated him. She shuttered and suddenly felt sick just thinking about her nightmare, she could still fill his fingers crawling over her virtual body — and what it must have felt like if he had managed to come to her hospital room. Thankfully, that did not happen. Kirito, with the assistance of Kayaba Akihiko's memory, defeated Sugou's avatar, Oberon, then as he rushed to the hospital so they could finally meet in real life, he was confronted by Sugou and defeated him again. 

She recalled seeing Kirito enter her room. He had a long cut on his cheek and the arm of his jacket was all bloodied from another wound she could not see. Tears welled in her eyes as she recalled the moment they shared their first real world kiss, how their hands fit together even more than she would have expected. It was like they were made for each other. She tried to recall what he had said to her in those first minutes, but her memory was clouded. Anger flowed through her as she realized she may never recall those first moments, but she knew he was comforting her and telling her it would all be okay. 

Once her senses woke up a bit more, Kirito introduced himself to her as Kazuto Kirigaya, though to her he would always be Kirito. She remembers how angry she had become when he told her of his confrontation with Sugou in the parking lot — she would have never forgiven herself if he had gone through so much to rescue her only to die when he was so close! At these thoughts her mind returned to the reason she was awake right now: her horrible nightmare. 

She needed to get up and go to the bathroom to wash the sweet, and the memory of the nightmare off her face, but she was too weak to do it herself and no one was with her. She knew Kirito would have stayed with her, but her parents had come by soon after his arrival and while they were cordial (Kirito had told her that he had met her father a few times while in the hospital visiting her over the last few months, her mother wanted nothing to do with him), she could see he was uncomfortable being there so he had given her his phone number in case she needed anything before he returned in the morning. Her parents had left a while later to sleep so they could go to work in the morning, so she was once again alone. In the absence of one of her loved ones, she pressed the nurse call button and waited.

"Honey, what can I do for you?" the nice evening nurse cooed as she entered her room

"I was hoping to go to the bathroom to wash my face and drink some water." Asuna submissively responded

The nurse took a closer look at her and noticed her bangs plastered to her forehead and her flushed appearance, "Oh dear, you are all warm and clammy. Are you feeling alright?" suddenly the nurse went around to her side to check Asuna's vitals and make sure she did not have a fever.

"Oh no. I am alright, just a nightmare. I wanted to be able to get up and perhaps get the nightmare out of my system, but I am too weak to trust myself to walk that far without help" 

"Of course. You have been through quite an ordeal." the nurse offered Asuna her arm and helped her move to the edge of the bed and get to her feet. The first few steps were quite challenging and she stumbled quite a bit. Eventually they made it to the door of the restroom in her hospital room and the nurse looked like she was ready to help her in as well when Asuna stopped. 

"Is it alright if I go in by myself? I can hold onto the wall and the sink. If I need anything, I will call." 

The nurse eyed her nervously before responding, "Of course honey. Just be careful please." 

With that, Asuna opened the door and hobbled into the room. The sink was right next to the door so the nurse saw that she had a firm grasp of the sink before the door closed. Her heart sank as she saw how weak Asuna stood. She knew if it was not for the sink, she would have collapsed on the ground. 

After the door closed, Asuna looked at herself in the mirror and tears formed in her eyes. She was so much skinnier than she had been two and a half years ago when she stole her brother's Nerve Gear and entered the death game. All that time with no movement or sun left her small and pale. ' _What did Kirito see in me?_ ' She questioned the looks of love and admiration he had directed her way when he was here this evening. Realizing if she didn't turn the water on soon, the nurse would assume something had happened and come in to check on her, so she turned on the water. Cupping her hands under the stream, she gathered water and took a sip of the water before washing her face off. As the water dripped from her face, she already felt a bit calmer. 

Turning the faucet off, she realized she did not have enough energy to make it to the door by herself so she called the nurse in. With her help, she made it back to her bed and the nurse took her leave.

Asuna lay in her bed for some time, but could not shake the nightmare from her memory. She saw Sugou's avatar each time she closed her eyes. She saw her avatar chained up by her wrists and Kirito lying on the ground with Sugou's sword in his back. Tears welled up in her eyes and she knew she had to hear his voice before she could calm down. 

Reaching for her bedside table, she found her phone that her parents had brought, having heard she was awake, and the sheet of paper Kirito had written his number on. 

She dialed and waited for his voice to soothe her. As the phone continued to ring, she became nervous. Would he answer? Was he asleep? Was this all a dream? But her pessimistic thoughts were interrupted by a groggy voice on the other end.

"H-hello?"

"Hi Kirito, its me Asuna." she embarrassingly replied, confirming she did wake him, but beaming with happiness that he bothered to answer a call. 

"Asuna, is everything okay?" She could hear the pain in his voice as he was woken completely by her voice, ready to jump into another battle to protect her. She could practically hear his heart pounding, but she knew it was probably her own. "Did something happen? Let's see, its late but I can get changed and ride over—"

Asuna interrupted before Kazuto could work himself up too much, or before he left his house to come to the hospital and be turned away since it was the middle of the night and visiting hours had passed long ago "You don't need to come here silly. I am s-sorry to call so late. Don't worry, nothing happened. I just had a nightmare and needed to hear your voice to feel safe again." Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the admission of her weakness. 

On the other end of the line, Kazuto's heart slowed. ' _She is safe! Calm down Kazuto!_ ' After taking a few breaths, he responded "A-asuna please don't worry for calling so late. That was why I made sure you had my number. For things like this." 

A short silence followed, for neither knew what to say next. "Asuna, hold on one second, I have an idea." Kazuto pulled his phone away from his ear and tapped a few buttons. Asuna heard her phone beep, taking the phone away from her ear with caution, afraid to miss even the smallest sound her Kirito might make. A smile spread across her face as she saw the notification was from him. He wanted to video chat. She clicked accept, only considering her sleepless appearance and was overtaken with worry at what he would say as the connection was established. But before she could give it much thought, Kazuto's face appeared, bearing a similar smile to the one she had moments ago. 

"Asuna. You have no clue how great it is to be able to see your beautiful face after these last few months." 

Asuna's blush deepened at his kind words. "Thank you Kirito. Again, so sorry for waking you I just didn't know what else—" 

"Don't apologize Asuna. I am glad you called. What can I do to help?" Asuna was mesmerized at Kazuto's kind words. Deep down she knew he would not mind the lateness of her call, but she was still full of worry. 

"I dreamt of everything that happened in ALO. Of the horrible things Sugou did to me..." she paused and Kazuto could see tears were forming in the corners of her eyes. "I awoke and was so afraid. I tried to fall back asleep, but could not. I kept seeing his evil face, feeling his hands on my skin... I kept thinking that this evening was a dream and I was still in that cage for him to ____. I needed to confirm that you were really hear and that I was no longer there." As the final words left her lips, the tears she had kept from escaping spilt over her eyelids, cascading down her face. 

Kazuto's heart sank as he saw her tears. He wanted nothing more than to be able to wrap her in his arms and wipe the tears away. "Asuna. I'm here. He can't hurt you any more! I won't let him! I-I-I love you Asuna. With all my heart." He was amazed with how much different those words felt saying them in the real world. Even though he and Asuna had shared those words in game, he felt himself warm with love as he watched the girl he loved wipe the tears on her sleeve and gaze directly into his eyes (well the image of his eyes on her phone screen.

"I love you too Kirito. I knew you would find me and save me, but I still can't believe it." 

"I made a promise to you that day after our run in with Kuradeel. That my heart was yours and I would get you back to the real world! When I woke up, since we told each other our real names, I would not quit until I found you. After telling him how we beat the game, I convinced Kikuoka Seijirou from the SAO Case Victims Rescue Force to help me find you. When I found you and learned that you had not woken up yet, I was broken." he paused, his own tears threatening to fall. "I never stopped hoping. I visited you almost every day, where I met your father and Sugou." Kazuto said the later's name with disgust. 

"Kirito, you were here every day?" Asuna asked, her voice suddenly shaking. 

"Yes. I would hold your hand and plead for you to wake up. If it wasn't for Agil who shared a photo characters in ALfheim took of you, stuck in a cage at the top of the World Tree, I don't even want to think about what would have happened." 

Asuna was touched by Kazuto's words and dedication. "The only thing keeping me going was you, Kirito. I knew you would come for me."

"Always Asuna. I will always be there for you. Forever." He responded. His voice full of pride and love. 

Asuna let out a large yawn, suddenly overcome with tiredness. 

"Asuna. Do you think you can fall asleep now?"

"I'm not sure Kirito. I am still so scared. I know I will be back there once I close my eyes." 

"It's okay Asuna. I can stay on the call with you until you fall asleep and watch over you. Prop your phone up and close your eyes." 

Asuna did a Kazuto instructed, resting her phone on the edge of the bed, leaning against the side table next to it. She repositioned her body so that she was lying on her side, looking at Kazuto's calming face. After closing her eyes, she indeed saw the bars of the cage all around her. 

Kazuto looked at her, hoping she would be able to fall asleep, but he could see her eyes shut tighter than a moment ago and her body tense. He panicked for a second, trying to think of what to do. "Asuna, its okay. You are back in the real world. Just breath and listen to my voice..." At the sound of his calming voice, her body began to relax. Kazuto continued to talk to her, about nothing in-particular. Memories of their time at their cabin on floor 22, plans for the future and how they could spend their lives together. As he saw her relax even more, and before he knew she would slip into a deeper sleep he told her one final time how much he loved her and that before she knew it, morning would come and he would be by her bedside. 

Without realizing it, he found himself falling asleep. The warm embrace of sleep claimed him before he could end the video call.

* * *

A number of hours later, Kazuto was roused from his sleep by an unfamiliar noise. He could hear a few people talking. But why would people be in his room talking while he slept? Kazuto opened his eyes to see his phone propped up with his screen facing him, showing Asuna sitting up in her hospital bed, talking to a nurse. 

The nurse noticed the screen and the now awake teenage boy looking at them. "Dear, it looks like your friend is awake." she commented while nodding in the direction of her phone. 

"Oh my! Kirito, your fell asleep before disconnecting the call." She picked up the phone so that they could properly look at each other. As Asuna directed her attention to Kazuto, the nurse took her leave.

"I'll be back with some breakfast for your shortly dear." she said with a smile. 

"Kirito, why didn't you hang up?" 

"So sorry. I was watching you sleep to make sure you didn't wake up again and I must have fallen asleep myself." Kazuto said, a bit embarrassed, his cheeks growing a bit pink. 

"Don't worry about it Kirito. It was just a bit surprising to wake up to see you sleeping there. But I didn't want to hang up either when I woke up. I liked feeling like we were close to each other even though we weren't." 

"Well in that case, I am glad I didn't hang up! I will have to make that mistake again." Kazuto said with a sheepish, playful grin. 

"Oh Kirito, you are still the same joker!" 

"Asuna. Give me a little bit to get ready and eat some breakfast, then I will be there to spend the day with you." He responded as he got up and stretched.

Asuna's cheeks grew rosy at her own embarrassment as she surveyed Kirito's sleepy form. 

"Kirito, you must have things to do today! You don't have to spend the whole day with me..." 

But before she could continue he interrupted with confidence, "No. I have nothing to do, and plus even if I did, spending time with my girlfriend who has just woken up from a coma is much more important." 

Asuna just gazed at him, too scared to speak. It took Kazuto to figure out why she was frozen, then realized what he said and began to ramble, "Oh... umm... I guess we never talked about it, but I just figured. I mean we were married in the game, but that was a bit different. I mean I still feel the same about you, but we are so young so I figured that dating probably makes more sense..." with each word he said, the color on his cheeks grew a shade darker. 

Suddenly, Asuna let out a little chuckle. "Silly you! Of course that's alright. I feel the same way as well. I was just surprised to hear it. It caught me off guard."

Kazuto let out the breath that he didn't know he had been holding. "Phew! I was so nervous. Also, that laugh was the cutest thing I have ever seen Asuna." Now it was Asuna's turn to go flush. 

Their conversation was interrupted when the nurse returned with her breakfast. "Kirito, my food is here." 

"Oh okay, I will let you eat. I will see you soon Asuna." 

"Yes. I can't wait." With that, the two teens hung up. 

The nurse set a tray down in front of Asuna and smiled, "So who was that dear?"

Asuna's cheeks continued to grow redder as she looked up at the kind nurse who had helped her last night. "Oh that's Kirito, well Kazuto technically. We met in SAO and started dating. He beat the game and freed everyone, and then saved me when I didn't wake up but was transferred to another virtual game." 

"You two sound very cute together, and very much in love. I thought I heard you talking last night after I left you, now it makes a lot more sense. I have helped a lot of survivors of the game, and it definitely seems that while you were all stuck in unimaginable horrors, some of you sought shelter in each other and gained new friends, or more." the nurse said that last part with a wink.

"W-w-well yes. I guess that's true." Asuna considered, thinking about not only Kirito, but also her other friends such as Lisbeth. ' _I need to ask Kirito what happened to her and our other friends when he gets here._ ' 

The nurse could tell that Asuna had become lost in thought, so moved to take her leave, "Eat up Asuna, even if your boyfriend is coming today, we have to get you started on physical therapy so that we can get you out of here and you can start school in the new year with all the other survivors."

"Wait! What do you mean about a school for the survivors?" Asuna asked hurriedly. 

"Since so many school-age children missed school for two years, the government decided it wouldn't be right to send you back to your old schools since you would be so far behind, but that you should all attend school together. That way you can readjust with those around you who went through similar things and get any extra help you need." 

"Oh wow! thank you." Asuna responded as she turned her attention to her food. ' _Does this mean that I get to go to school with Kirito!? That means I can spend even more time with him._ ' Asuna, who was dreading the physical strain of therapy, suddenly had a newfound drive to excel at her recovery so she could attend school with the love of her life.


End file.
